Steve Reeves in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1961)

Steve Reeves in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1961)

It's been years and years since I've seen Steve Reeves search for the blue rose to save the poisoned princess in this unique Italian take on the classic tale. I remember watching it many times as a child and marveling at all the fantasy elements; a flying horse, trees that come to life at night to strangle those nearby, Reeves' cloak of invisibility and a horde of faceless trolls.

I'd love to see THE THIEF OF BAGDAD again but I can't even find a gray market DVD. Most dealers that I've questioned have never heard of it.

That sounds like HERCULES UNCHAINED, Rod. Omphale, the Queen of Lidia (Sylvai "Va-va-voom" Lopez) has been preserving her ex-lovers in an underground chamber, but she really falls for Herc. Broken hearted, she dives into the pool of embalming slop when he escapes her clutches.

I remember the lovely theme music, along with the flying horse, the cloak of invisibility, the nocturnal tree monsters, and a death struggle over a bottomless chasm. I also remember the strangling tabongas seeming a lot less wooden than Reeves.*

*Come to think of it, I've seen hunks of driftwood more animated than Reeves.

This film used to air a lot here in NYC when we got to see sword and sandal films on the weekends....not the dreaded infomercials...The rose...that brings back a lot of memories, and wasn't there a wizard or magician? The flying horse...yeah...

Well, like most of us, I had so many other new videos and DVDs in my collection that I hadnt seen, it took me quite a while before I finally caught up and watched my new copy of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD. What a treat!

Three years after his breakthrough role in HERCULES, Steve Reeves actually gives a nice performance as Karim, the thief who searches for the blue rose. He seems much more comfortable on camera and has a charm here thats lacking in his earlier movies. Giorgia Moll is striking as the princess, whos inadvertently poisoned by a love potion given to her by another suitor.

There were several elements in the story that Id forgotten about; a kindly, old wizard appears throughout Reeves quest to help him along and theres a beautiful temptress who has a peculiar habit of mixing up cocktails that turn men into stone. The trees that come to life at night were just as creepy as I remembered them; pulling their roots out of the ground, dragging themselves along and wrapping their branches around the throats of those asleep. Theres also a killer with a cloak of invisibility that our hero has to grapple with on a bridge over a yawning chasm, a flying horse that's nicely done, a magical army of Steve Reeve look-alikes that battle the villian's forces and a neat little twist at the end.

I had a good laugh seeing those faceless trolls again. Picture a bunch of Italian extras wearing black costumes and white, cotton batting headpieces the size of basketballs over their melons. Somehow, faceless trolls shouldnt have visible stitching seams on their heads.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this again after so many years and I heartily recommend it to any fans of the genre.